1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates generally to communication systems, and more particularly, to provide a silence period in a directional communication network.
2. Background
In order to address issues associated with increasing bandwidth usage that may be seen in wireless communications systems, different schemes have been developed to allow multiple user terminals to communicate by sharing channel resources while achieving high data throughputs. Multiple Input or Multiple Output (MIMO) technology represents one such approach that has recently emerged as a popular technique for the next generation communication systems. MIMO technology has been adopted in several emerging wireless communications standards such as the Institute of Electrical Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standard. IEEE 802.11 denotes a set of Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) air interface standards developed by the IEEE 802.11 committee for short-range communications (e.g., tens of meters to a few hundred meters). For example, 802.11 ad/ac/a/b/g/n.
Generally, wireless communications systems, specified by the IEEE 802.11 standard, have a central entity, such as an access point (AP)/point coordination function (PCF) that manages communications between different devices, also called stations (STAs). Having a central entity may simplify design of communication protocols. Further, although any device capable of transmitting a beacon signal may serve as an AP, for an AP to be effective it may have to have a good link quality to all STAs in a network.
Referring to one example device (e.g., STA), a mobile wireless communications devices (WCD) (e.g., laptops, smartphones, etc.) may have comparatively reduced capabilities to that of a traditional AP due to factors such as cost, power, form factor, etc. For example, antenna steering capability may be limited to a small sector bound, available power may be limited, location may be variable, etc. Even with these limitations, STAs may be asked to perform as APs to form peer-to-peer networks for various purposes, such as side-loading, file sharing, etc. For example, STAs may be asked to form peer-to-peer networks where no device may efficiently transmit to and receive from all other devices. As such, a method and apparatus for providing effective directionally based communication schemes between multiple devices is desired.